Seven Spectacular Stoner Comedies, Or Is It Eight…..

A stoner comedy, for those of you who may not know, is a comedy movie that often centers around the act of smoking marijuana as the catalyst for comical scenarios. Which is actually a pretty honest portrayal of the drug itself. These movies usually consist of a story about people on weed, who either want to get MORE weed, or who have some other major goal in mind, but weed inhibits or affects that goal. While that scenario may sound dull in itself, if you have ever done it, you know it as anything but. Anyway, I touched on “ghettocentric” movies last week because I had never seen them on this site before, and this week is all about the funny weed films, because I am pretty sure I am the only Unreality staffer who has fallen asleep eating cheetos, only to wake up and finish them for breakfast. Let me put it on public record that the views in this article do not reflect the views of all of Unreality, and we do not encourage drug use. My site is a different story, though, but here, nope.

Kids, don’t do drugs. Leave that to your parents so they can cope with raising you.

Up in Smoke

These two set the tone for every other stoner movie you see on this list.

I think it should be safe to say I don’t need to say too much about this movie that hasn’t been said , a million times over, all over the web. I just said said a lot, huh?? *Puts down joint. Man, I am off to a shaky start.

Up In Smoke is the seminal stoner comedy, with the seminal stoner performances giving by seminal stoners, Cheech and Chong. Is Up In Smoke extremely over-the-top? Yes. It is childish and foolish at times? Ofcourse it is, but that is the very beauty of marijuana. People are not fighting. People are not cheating or getting into car accidents. People are doing stupid, hilarious shit with pot as the precursor. And these two were really the guys to turn to for drugcentric comedy. Nothing was taboo, nothing was off limits, and that was half the fun.

And honestly, that car scene had me in tears the first time I saw it.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ozk7fnKilU

It knows its dumb. It embraces its dumb, which is exactly why it works.

And Cheech and Chong really did set the tone for the “stoner duo” films. Films like….

Pineapple Express

This really is the exact demographic of the modern day stoner archetypes. 

We all love Pineapple Express. And yes, I am talking about the actual strain of pot, but also the movie that inspired the strain of pot. Weedception.

Anyway, Pineapple Express is the Die Hard of weed comedies. Has the biggest names in it, had the biggest “weed movie” budget, has the most consistent laughs in it, and it has some absolutely insane action scenes in it. But the real selling point of the movie (outside of Danny McBride, who owned) was the genuine, humorous chemistry between the two leads of the film, Seth Rogen and James Franco, who are kind of like some weird before-and-after pic from an alternative universe. What I did like about Pineapple Express is that it didn’t use marijuana as the punchline for a lot of their jokes. It used the moronic antics of these two.

Cool side note about this film: Franco’s entire persona, from hair to accent to outfit, was taken from the stoner character cameo Brad Pitt played in the brilliant True Romance. A role Brad openly admits he was “method acting” for. Touche, sir. Touche.

Back to Pineapple Express, the Daewoo line is one my fave lines of all time, and makes this already great movie immortal.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJa3SWU9qp8

One of the few movie lines I quote often and (obviously) out of context.

Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle

You don’t think about it too often, but how awesome was it that the leads in this movie were not your average, white, stoner-cliches?

Okay, first off we need to dismiss the fact that this movie had two sequels, when it should not have. If they just left it alone and let it stew for a half a decade, they would have seen they had a cult film on their hands. It really would have been something else. But instead, the movie did FAR better than was expected, so in our current movie market, that means “more movies, more movies!” and both of the follow ups have been poor, boorish impressions of the first film, which mainly worked because it didn’t give a shit and didn’t expect to do well, so it just stayed true to itself.

I know, I know, it was a ninety-minute commercial for White Castle (which sucked for those of us in New England who do not have one any closer to us than Jersey or Connecticut), but what made this film work so well was the fact that situations like this DO happen to stoners. Granted, maybe not riding cheetahs and grabbing the boobs of beautiful woman who’s mutant husbands want to watch you bang them, but honestly, simple stoner journeys can have some pretty crazy shit go down, and it was just funny to see that, played to the extreme. And NPH for the all-time win.

Also, the absurdity of this scene killed me.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atC_8aTGRtM

Dazed and Confused

Hear no evil, see no evil, smoke no evil.

Alright, this one is my pick of the litter.

Why? Because it does the impossible. It really only uses weed to accentuate the teen experience and story they are trying to tell, and they don’t use marijuana and being high as a punchline. While it may appear juvenile on the surface (because it is full of juveniles), it is the least juvenile pot comedy on the list, and it captures a time period so magically that even the stars talk about how they knew that they were experiencing magic when they were making that movie. not a movie ABOUT pot, but a movie with pot as a palpable element.

Dazed was what high school was and pretty much still is for all kids: A time about experiencing with sex and drugs and the way you think, and trying to form relationships that will stay with you, while also admitting who the assholes are and trying to weed them out, pun intended.

And let’s not forget it embedded in us an image of Mathew McConaughey that we (nor he) would ever shake.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wf-mRo7C2I

This was not only his character, but a mantra and lifestyle he would adopt forevermore after this film.

Also, it gave us Mila Jovavich at her most freakishly beautiful. I would have sold my soul to this woman when this film came out.

I. Love. you.

Friday

The eighties clip art in the corner of this pic somehow makes it that much higher.

Last week, when I did my list of ghettocentric gangster movies, someone commented that I left Friday out, but I have to contest that here. Friday is NOT a gangster movie by any means. It is a stoner movie. Anyone who has spent even one afternoon getting high OUT OF the suburbs can tell  you, Friday nails it. From the scary dude who rolls through (Zeus), to the dealer who fronts you his weed and you smoke it all before you sell it (been in that exact scenario with some friends on more than one occasion), to the angry, insecure girlfriend showing up, Friday just nails it. Hell, Chris Tucker even tells a story about mistakenly smoking angel dust in that movie, and hand to God, that shit is pretty much spot on. Just trust me on that one.

And Friday coined a line that would go on to be used  by all stoners, every Friday, for the rest of time. This line.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4tbZ7xnEjk

Actually, I do have a job. I’m a writer, but that just like NOT having a job, so pass that ish over here.

Tie: Half Baked/ How High

Just the fact that it had Chappelle makes it a classic.

I will admit, in some ways, Half Baked is everything wrong with stoner movies.

Why? Because it casts burnouts as lazy, stupid, slackers with a strong tendency to make terrible choices and laugh at anything, uncontrollably, which is about as accurate a portrayal of pot heads as Arthur is of drunks. But I think we should all be able to step back and laugh at over done caricatures of ourselves from time to time, and Half Baked is just that. While not a favorite of mine, I will admit, my love for Chappelle makes it well worth watching atleast once.

Honestly, How High is the same way, but I got mad love for Method Man and Redman, and that movie openly embraces its absurdity to the point where it becomes quite funny. I mean, how can you not find this funny:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L96t10kU-c

I can now scratch “seeing Method Man dance to Rammstein” off my bucket list.

(And An Honorable Mention To):

Smiley Face

I won’t ruin what these two talk about, but John Krasinski steals this movie, even though he is in it for mere minutes.

I adore Anna Faris, and I consider this to be the “little indie stoner comedy that could”. Far more charming than many of the above said films, it is a cute afternoon spent with Anna Faris bugging out after eating too many pot brownies. Well worth seeing just for the speech scene, which only the brightest of you will know is a nod to a much more serious film:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZLCdxnZtCs

I give speeches all the time, and often get the same reaction.

Remember kids, don’t do drugs. But if you do, do them and go check out my site. The two go together like peanut butter and chocolate.